China Executes Man for Running Over Mongol Herder

The official Xinhua News Agency said in a brief report that Li Lindong was executed Aug. 18. The report, dated Aug. 19, was posted to a regional news website and appeared to not be widely circulated.

The herder, Mergen, who like many Mongols uses just one name, was killed May 10 while he and others were blocking the road through their village to protest noise and pollution produced by coal trucks transiting the grasslands. Police said Li ran over Mergen and then dragged his body for 160 yards (145 meters) before he died.

Li was sentenced in June after a six-hour trial at the Intermediate People’s Court in the region’s Xilingol League. Fellow driver Lu Xiangdong, who had been sitting in the cab of Li’s truck when he drove over the herder, was also convicted of homicide and sentenced to life in prison, state media said earlier.